A Conservative Free Thinker

Robert Patterson makes a welcomed point in the Washington Examiner:

For decades, conservative economists have essentially argued that carving out loopholes for property income at the expense of workers will generate more jobs and greater prosperity.

Yet the legacy of the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush 43 tax cuts -- reductions that embody this property income bias, while relying on payroll taxes to fund general government -- suggests just the opposite.

Indeed, both conservative and liberal observers debunk the myth of this "stork theory of economics," as John Mueller terms it. William Voegeli warns fellow conservatives that the "asymmetrical growth pattern" since the 1980s has painted Republicans into a corner, quantifying how little the supply-side revolution delivered for "average" families at the bottom three-fifths of the income distribution, with annual earnings under $80,000.

On the other hand, Patterson's own preferred policy response - tax relief for parents of children - I think misses the mark. The tax code is not the right place to look for solutions to the problems of the American middle class. Even if every middle-class parent had his or her federal tax obligations cut to zero, they'd still face stagnating incomes and health-coverage insecurity.

But good for Bob for opposing the gathering Republican orthodoxy that nothing is wrong with this country that cannot be solved by abolishing the capital gains tax.